bikingshearer 

Okay, here's one for y'all. My wife and I are separated - she stayed, I moved out and mow live nearby. I have two of my bikes with me. I still have one bike (needs cables replaced), two frames (all frames are steel), and a bunch of old parts and assorted stuff, including panniers, tent, sleeping bag and ground pad, in the shed in back of my former home.

Now for the issue. My wife wants to bug-bomb the shed to get rid of black widow spiders and whatever else is in there that she doesn't like. Will that stuff hurt frames, finishes, or any of the other stuff I've mentioned? It would be a real pain in the @$$ to move it all to my new place, as I do not have any extra room, so I'd like to be lazy and leave it there if possible. Of course, I'd rather not ruin any paint jobs or cause long-term health issues, either.

Any info, suggestions or thoughts anyone can offer would be helpful. Also, I likely will be away from computer access for the next two days, so please forgive me if I don't respond to somehting quickly. Thanks.

Grand Bois

I remember that people were afraid that the paint on their cars would be ruined when they sprayed large areas in California with malathion to get rid of a fruitfly that threatened crops. It turned out that it did no harm, if I recall correctly.

I used malathion when my mother's garage was infested with black widows. It didn't work. I ended up going after the spiders and their eggs with my grandfather's blowtorch. That was very effective.

Retro Grouch 

I'd be afraid that, if I took all of my stuff out of the garage before the fumigation, I'd just be transporting the spiders to my new place.

I_bRAD

I don't know if I'd want to sleep in a tent and sleeping bag impregnated with bug poison. 'course like Retro grouch said I wouldn't want to sleep in a sleeping bag with spiders in it either.

Da Tinker

FYI, spiders are tough to kill off with fumigants. Might work better just to use the old moth ball trick to run them out.

kimolop

If it was me, the least of my concerns would be bug bombs. I would get everything of mine out of the house before she changes her mind. Self storage places are pretty cheap.

orange leader

I am an entomologist and I work in a lab where we do efficacy testing (test things so they can make label claims, or not if the product did not work). So I have some expertise here.

Many bombs are made for inside a house, so they don't have super corrosive ingredients in them. Just think if someone let off a bomb, and came home to find their computer melted and paint stripped off the wall, well.. they'd be a tad mad. At the same time, your shed is probably smaller than most areas that a bomb is intended to treat so it would be more concentrated in that smaller area. Anyhow, I'm not sure how large your shed is so I can't say for sure. But insecticides sometimes have alcohol, or acetone based in them because that's what they dissolve into easiest, it really depends on what you're (she's) using. Read the label to see what you're dealing with. If it's alcohol or acetone, the paint may be an issue, but all the metal parts will be fine. Some of the plastic parts may be plasticized as if there's acetone involved.

Read the label, if it's water based, you should be okay. If it's not, move your stuff.

oilman_15106

My neighbor in Houston, TX got new carpets from the bug bomb maker. Claimed the stuff ruined the carpets. But he also tore down his fence during a hurricane and stored it off site for an insurance claim.

Rocket Dawg

That guy is messing with Karma. He's a thief and when a portion of his new fence comes through and busts out a window during the next storm and ruins his new carpet he's probably going to be oblivious as to why.

I don't like thieves.

Chuck

bikingshearer 

Thanks for the info and advice, everyone. Nothing quite like the BF community for good info for strange situations.